Zhang Erguo's gift was indeed meager.
The cultivation resources he had obtained from Ailin were nowhere near as plentiful as Jiang Che's. If he wanted to sustain his push toward full aperture, he had to count every penny and waste nothing.
During more than a year of secluded cultivation, he had scrimped and saved on his resources. This small offering was already all the goodwill he could afford to give.
Before coming, he had certainly felt ashamed. He had even considered simply staying away rather than embarrassing himself. But then he thought again: they had braved life and death together in Ailin. What mattered was their bond. Who would laugh at whom? It wasn't as though Senior Sister didn't know his circumstances!
And so he had thickened his skin and come.
Only to take a club to the head from the petty gatekeeper.
Yet his gift really was meager. Poverty clipped a man's ambitions. He neither wanted to suffer further humiliation nor stir up a greater disturbance and spoil Senior Sister Hu's happy occasion.
Just as he was about to cover his face and leave, Jiang Che and the others arrived.
"Covering up someone's embarrassment?" Jiang Che snorted. "Who the hell do you think you are? Since when does a greeter get to pick apart the host's gift list? Belittling a guest's gift-are you looking down on the guest, or on the person who invited him?"
The smile immediately slipped from Qiu Lian's face.
He had meant well.
If this banquet went well, he would become one of Hu Yan's people. With a Qi Refining Practitioner's name behind him, his future would be secure. If he accumulated more cultivation resources, perhaps he too might find an opportunity to reach Qi Refining. And so he had wanted to vet every entry